would like to move to CA but i'm afraid of earthquakes. unfounded fear?

[Locut0s]

ya know, i have actually considered vancouver.
how's the winters up there? avg temps and snowfall.

This year NO snow at all and it's the Winter Olympics LOL.

Most years we don't get much snow. Not compared to the rest of Canada or Northern US. Average temps are very good even through the winter. We are talking about low single digits and sometimes negative (CELSIUS) in the winter and in the high 20s in the summer. We have WONDERFUL Julys and Augusts on average. Everything else about Vancouver is very California like as well!!! Amazing place for food, sports (summer and winter), hiking, multiculturalism, naturalism. We have a booming movie and TV industry just like CA (though it's been hurt a bit), we are also very tech friendly with tons of major tech companies here (EA games for one). It's a beautiful city to look at too

Only think weather wise is that you have to get used to about 2 -3 months or more of overcast and rain in the winter. But those of us who call this home wouldn't give it up for anything!

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

This year NO snow at all and it's the Winter Olympics LOL.

Most years we don't get much snow. Not compared to the rest of Canada or Northern US. Average temps are very good even through the winter. We are talking about low single digits and sometimes negative (CELSIUS) in the winter and in the high 20s in the summer. We have WONDERFUL Julys and Augusts on average. Everything else about Vancouver is very California like as well!!! Amazing place for food, sports (summer and winter), hiking, multiculturalism, naturalism. We have a booking movie and TV industry just like CA (though it's been hurt a bit), we are also very tech friendly with tons of major tech companies here (EA games for one).

oh wait, i would have to transition to a retarded scale like celsius. nevermind.

 

[killster1]

hawaii is the best.. bolting stuff down and having a decent house is prob good idea.. mostly only brick buildings fell in biggest quake around here.. prob better chance of getting hit by tornado or floods somewhere else than a quake killing you or hurting your tv.. i bolt all my lcds to the wall to keep my kids from knocking them over or poking holes in them..

 

[Locut0s]

oh wait, i would have to transition to a retarded scale like celsius. nevermind.

Yeah that's the same reason I refuse to move to the US. Fucking FAHRENHEIT my ass. Well that and my bullet dodging skills aren't the best.

 

[Locut0s]

hawaii is the best.. bolting stuff down and having a decent house is prob good idea.. mostly only brick buildings fell in biggest quake around here.. prob better chance of getting hit by tornado or floods somewhere else than a quake killing you or hurting your tv.. i bolt all my lcds to the wall to keep my kids from knocking them over or poking holes in them..

However if any place along the pacific rim suffers an 8-9+ earth quake you are a prime target for a tsunami.

 

[sygyzy]

If no one you love gets hurt and nothing major you care about gets destroyed. But you are unlikely to be that lucky if we are talking about a big quake so fuck that quakes are scary. Yeah I too sometimes think it would be fun to experience one, then I think of the loved ones I could loose.

I would love to hear statistics on or take survey and see how many people know someone (one degree) that died as a result of an earthquake. I cannot think of anyone even in 4 or 5 degrees of separation. Or 10.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Depends how frequent they are. Either way if it's a risk just make sure to to have a safety backup plan. As far as stuff like computer data, back it up offsite. If you don't want to deal with something like what Haiti is in now, then don't move there.

 

[Udgnim]

earthquakes in Haiti = huge humanitarian disaster

earthquakes in California = "omg did you feel that?"

I'd personally be more afraid of hurricanes and tornadoes.

 

[Locut0s]

I would love to hear statistics on or take survey and see how many people know someone (one degree) that died as a result of an earthquake. I cannot think of anyone even in 4 or 5 degrees of separation. Or 10.

How many 9.0+ earth quakes have there been around major cities? That the kind of quake they are forecasting here. There haven't been ANY in recorded history near major settlements. Those that have occurred have either been remote or caused huge death tolls. The Indian Ocean quake killed 200,000+. Yes that did strike in a poor country but still a LOT of people would still die in a wealthy country. The reason you don't know anyone who has died is because there have been relatively few large earthquakes here in the west over the past 50-60 years.

 

[AdamK47]

You should be more affraid of the laws. Earthquakes are nothing compared to the crazy crap that gets passed there.

 

[TubeTote]

OK, here is my 2 cents...

I lived in San Diego for about a year. I took a class at a university and we went out on a field trip to look at fualts. There is apparantely a huge fault line going up the 5, and I have heard it is about 50 years overdue. Never felt a quake there though.

Even further back, I spent about 5 months traveling around the bay area down to Monterrey. I won't forget the quake I encountered, a very freaky experience...

I was in my Toy 4 Runner and sitting at a stop light not far from the city of Santa Cruz. Suddenly my car started to shake...sort of a heavy vibration. I immediately thought, "oh my f***ing engine is done". I scrambled to turn off the car. It just kept shaking. I sat there for a moment in bewilderment, then the vibration stopped as quickly as it had begun. I looked forward at the intersection, and saw the traffic light swaying back and forth. That is when I realized I had just experienced a minor earthquake.

Obviously, this experience did not discourage me from living in San Diego, but once I left CA I knew I wouldn't move back. This is for other reasons. I really enjoyed my stay, but it was just too crowded and expensive. I still love to visit though. EDIT: Last visit was Phish Festival 8 in Indio...WOOHOO!!!

I would recommend looking into some of the southwestern states as well. Colorado has pretty mild winters overall (much milder than MN where I grew up), but the occasional huge storm (which I find sort of fun, like a snow day back in grade school). There is lots of sunshine here, and lots to do if you are into the outdoors. The city is the perfect size for me...big enough to have all of the amenities for a single guy, and small enough that it doesn't seem too crowded or overwhelming. I love it here.

EDIT: Almost forgot to mention we have Red Rocks ampitheater...if you are a concert goer this is MAJOR!

Other cool states I frequent in the southwest are Arizona and New Mexico. Arizona is a great state but I don't recommend Phoenix unless you want that big city thing. Albuquerque and Santa Fe are fun little cities, but I wouldn't live there, just a bit too isolated for me. If you don't want a city to live in, there are infinate options in this region...and it has the weather you are looking for.

Hope this helps!

 

[Corporate Thug]

if you are moving to CA, San Diego > any city (coming from a lala land native).

 

[Red Squirrel]

earthquakes in Haiti = huge humanitarian disaster

earthquakes in California = "omg did you feel that?"

I'd personally be more afraid of hurricanes and tornadoes.

Yeah I've seen pictures of what hurricanes can do. Pretty much makes any US city look like Haiti right now.

Any risk of natural disater = no fun but you have to consider the odds.

 

[lxskllr]

earthquakes in Haiti = huge humanitarian disaster

earthquakes in California = "omg did you feel that?"

I'd personally be more afraid of hurricanes and tornadoes.

Fuck California. I don't need my crap falling off the shelves, and paying for the privilege with retarded laws.

 

[dullard]

I wonder how I would feel about moving to Kansas or somewhere with tornados. Or Florida with hurricanes. I imagine that's 10x worse but maybe the locals there would laugh at me too.

Tornadoes always come into threads like these. DingDingDao's comment is so typical that there is a disaster everywhere. The thing that is missed is the scale of disasters.

One earthquake: 200,000+ dead in Haiti. And that isn't even an extreme example, Shansi China had an earthquake with 830,000 dead. The Kobe earthquake caused $131 Billion damage. At most 1 minute warning.

One hurricane: 8000+ dead in Galveston, TX ($900 million damage in 2000 dollars). In another bad event Hurricane Andrew caused $35 Billion of damage. With modern weather estimate, you usually get 5 days or more notice to get to safety.

One tornado: Topeka, KS, with $1.6B damage. Deadliest tornado, the tri-state tornado with 695 dead. With modern forecasting we usually get 30+ minutes warning and ~50 people die a year. It'll take at least 4000 years combined for all tornadoes to be as deadly as the one Haiti earthquake.

So, yes, all places have disasters, but the damage, warning time, and loss of life is very minimal for tornadoes compared to earthquakes. Tornadoes are not really safety concern anymore. That is unless you think that warning labels on products are actually useful information.

 

[trmiv]

Tornadoes always come into threads like these. DingDingDao's comment is so typical that there is a disaster everywhere. The thing that is missed is the scale of disasters.

One earthquake: 200,000+ dead in Haiti. And that isn't even an extreme example, Shansi China had an earthquake with 830,000 dead. The Kobe earthquake caused $131 Billion damage. At most 1 minute warning.

One hurricane: 8000+ dead in Galveston, TX ($900 million damage in 2000 dollars). In another bad event Hurricane Andrew caused $35 Billion of damage. With modern weather estimate, you usually get 5 days or more notice to get to safety.

One tornado: Topeka, KS, with $1.6B damage. Deadliest tornado, the tri-state tornado with 695 dead. With modern forecasting we usually get 30+ minutes warning and ~50 people die a year. It'll take at least 4000 years combined for all tornadoes to be as deadly as the one Haiti earthquake.

So, yes, all places have disasters, but the damage, warning time, and loss of life is very minimal for tornadoes compared to earthquakes. Tornadoes are not really safety concern anymore. That is unless you think that warning labels on products are actually useful information.

True, but there is a BIG difference between an earthquake in California vs an earthquake in Haiti. The most people ever killed in California in an earth quake was in the 1906 San Francisco quake, something around 3000.

Since then the most deaths were the 1933 Long Beach earthquake that killed 133, the 1971 San Fernando earthquake that killed 65, the Loma Prieta quake (which I had the joy of experiencing) which killed 64, and the Northridge quake that killed 60. Compare those to the Tornado and the Hurricane mentioned above along with Hurricane Katrina, and the numbers look small.

 

[rasczak]

earthquakes are the least of your concerns when it comes to Cali.

 

[dullard]

True, but there is a BIG difference between an earthquake in California vs an earthquake in Haiti. The most people ever killed in California in an earth quake was in the 1906 San Francisco quake, something around 3000.

Since then the most deaths were the 1933 Long Beach earthquake that killed 133, the 1971 San Fernando earthquake that killed 65, the Loma Prieta quake (which I had the joy of experiencing) which killed 64, and the Northridge quake that killed 60. Compare those to the Tornado and the Hurricane mentioned above along with Hurricane Katrina, and the numbers look small.

That one example that you give, 3000 dead is greater than the top 10 tornadoes combined. Source. Also note that all the top 10 tornadoes were at least 56 years ago before weather forcasting was any good and before warning systems were built. Modern tornadoes don't kill many people at all.

The 1906 earthquake was basically the largest earthquake in the continental US (since the US has been largely populated). Another that size will happen again. And this time, California will have a sizeable population. Do you really think there would only be ~60 people killed if another big one hits?

My bias: I life in Nebraska which is in tornado country but north of tornado alley. We get tornadoes each year in the area.

 

[Paperdoc]

Embrace the risk! Carefully select a property JUST east of the major fault lines and buy now while it's cheap. Eventually it will be come BEACHFRONT worth BIG bucks! Earthquake of Global Warming, you can't lose! Well, maybe your heirs several generations into the future will be the actual beneficiaries of your prescient actions.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

if you are moving to CA, San Diego > any city (coming from a lala land native).

yes, SD was definitely on the short list.

 

[trmiv]

That one example that you give, 3000 dead is greater than the top 10 tornadoes combined. Source. Also note that all the top 10 tornadoes were at least 56 years ago before weather forcasting was any good and before warning systems were built. Modern tornadoes don't kill many people at all.

The 1906 earthquake was basically the largest earthquake in the continental US (since the US has been largely populated). Another that size will happen again. And this time, California will have a sizeable population. Do you really think there would only be ~60 people killed if another big one hits?

My bias: I life in Nebraska which is in tornado country but north of tornado alley. We get tornadoes each year in the area.

Depends where it hits. A lot of San Francisco still has rather old buildings that are likely to have serious problems in another big earthquake centered in SF. Modern buildings or ones that were properly retrofitted should do a lot better. If one about the size of the Haitian quake was centered in San Francisco it would probably kill about the same as the 1906, maybe a few thousand more. A lot, but no where near what has been seen in Haiti. If it's centered in an unpopulated area like the Loma Prieta quake was (centered in the Santa Cruz mountains), the results would likely be similar to that quake.

Where you live makes a big difference too. Like I said, a lot of San Francisco has old buildings that would fail in a huge quake centered on the city. But the suburbs will do much better in a big quake. I lived in Newark, CA during the Loma Prieta quake which is closer to the epicenter than where most of the damage was, and I can't recall any major damage at all. Just things falling off walls, shelves, lights, etc.

 

[Imported]

Just stay away from the way Northern CA? 6.0 hit Humboldt County today.

 

[TuxDave]

I've lived here for 25 years and I've never even felt an earthquake.

I guess it depends on where you live. UC Berkeley is really close to a fault line and so I felt about 2-3 tremors a year for the 3 years I was there. Down in the South Bay area, I probably felt 1 tremor a year. None of it was huge, just a little shaking like someone dropping a heavy object in the next room or something like a large truck rumbling down the road.

 

[0roo0roo]

yea its a big meh.
there are other issues with budget far more problematic.
higher education used to be free in cali, or near it.
now its a joke.
rest of budget is f*ck as well.

cali isn't built like haiti there are some building standards here. the 1989 quake had less than 70 people dead, and it was almost as strong as the haiti quake.

you get used to small quakes. sometimes you just don't notice em

 

[Riceninja]

Move to Vancouver.

please stop telling people this.

housing is expensive enough as it is